Hit the road, Jack!

ENT has cleared us to go home, now just the inevitable two or three hours it takes to get around the paperwork and leave (why?)... Micah had a pretty good night. Once he had gotten up from surgery, he took at 4+ hour nap, so I was afraid he wouldn't sleep, but my fears were unfounded! They've kept him at a higher dose of tylenol than usual, but we'll go back to the normal dose once we're home. Let's not chance it on the way home, right?

Of course, I bugged Dr. Elluru about a Passey-Muir valve (PMV) again... I almost always do. They said they'd fit him with one next time we're down here. What a PMV does is it lets you breathe in through your trach, and it doesn't let you breathe out the trach. Instead, you push the air up through your trachea, out your nose and mouth (like a normal person). Unfortunately, it's a lot more work for some kids to do that, and some just can't use them. When they resolve the laryngomalacia, that will open up his epiglottis and let more air through. (Just in case you were wondering, I figure that we have to learn all this stuff, so I'll torture you too) :) Fixing the laryngomalacia could also create a lot more aspiration problems, because the epiglottis is part of what keeps what's in your mouth out of your lungs. Since it doesn't open much, not much can get by. Opening it could let more in if he hasn't figured out the whole "close it off when you swallow thing". (Don't quote me on all of this, I think I have it figured out but I'm not sure).

If if's and but's were candy and nuts...

It's good Dr. E is the king of "it's not the end of the world" and "it'll be alright" and my personal favorite, "we're still hoping to have him all packaged up by kindergarten, maybe PreK." Yay for great doctors!